CaptainU Recruiting: How to Decide

Admissions letters for standard deadline applications will reach you in mid-spring. When the time comes to choose between the schools to which you’ve been accepted, your first consideration should be academics. Narrow down the field of colleges
accordingly.

REEVALUATE THE COLLEGES

Of the schools that accepted you, which cater best to your academic and social needs? Which will be the best for your intellectual and social growth? That, after all, is what college is all about. Once you’ve identified the two, three, or four schools which will best suit you academically and socially, reassess their sports programs. Study the notes you have compiled in your file folders. If you’ve done a good job taking notes, you will have a lot of information at your fingertips.

REEVALUATE THE TEAMS

Think long and hard about the teams you have to choose from. Reassess the coach, players, and quality of play. Peruse the notes you made on your log sheets. Look over the promotional materials coaches sent you—team brochures, newsletters, stat sheets,
etc. Skim the letters and e-mails you saved.

THE IMPORTANCE OF A GUARANTEE

As we’ve said all along, the best outcome of recruiting is to be guaranteed a spot on the team long before you arrive on campus. You haven’t done yourself much good if somewhere along the way there is a misunderstanding and you arrive on campus only to find that you have to try out, that you’re not assured of anything. Therefore, the significance of a guarantee cannot be overstated. It ensures that you will be on the team, and that you don’t have to try out when you arrive on campus. This should weigh heavily on your decision. Don’t let your situation be ambiguous.

Tryouts are a real gamble. There are countless circumstances that can tilt the odds against you. For starters, a coach might select only one player from a huge candidate pool; tryouts might only last one afternoon; you might sustain a minor injury that
prevents you from participating in tryouts and ends your college career before it begins. Any number of things could go wrong. You want to avoid the numbers game. So get a clear answer from each coach. Will he guarantee you a spot on his team?

Stay tuned for more of “Make the Team”, written by CaptainU CEO, Avi Stopper with #MaketheTeam